A Passion for Potions (Petalfall #1)

31. Thirty-One - The Manor Family

Thirty-One - The Manor Family

Ana

Leaving them tangled together, I slip out of the bed and paw through the clothing on the floor in the dark. I find a robe made of lace that certainly won’t work but eventually, I find my undergarments and a robe that is much too long, but, at least, it isn’t see-through.

The hall outside the door is dim, when I sneak out, and Penny’s robe—now that I can see it, I know it’s his—drags behind me like a train.

I only get half way down the stairs before Blicks hurries up them to me, concern on his face. “Is something wrong?”

“No, I’m just—” my stomach grumbles loudly enough that we both look down at it. “Starving.”

I laugh lightly at the admission and Blicks nods. “Of course. I can bring something up if you’d prefer.”

I shake my head and wish I had taken the time to look for something to pull my hair up. “They’re sleeping still and I don’t want to wake them. Can you point me toward the kitchen?”

He glances up the stairs and then chuckles under his breath, it’s so low, I almost question if I am hearing things.

“Right this way,” he leads me down the stairs, into the drawing room, and then presses open a panel in the wall and I step into what are clearly servant’s halls.

There are doors labeled with each of the rooms names and eventually, a narrow stairway that leads down.

“The kitchen is at the bottom,” he says, softly. “I’ll make sure they don’t interrupt you before you can finish breaking your fast.”

“Thank you,” I say with a smile that I feel in my ribs. “Just don’t hurt them.”

He winks, “Only if they make me.”

I watch him go, disappearing through one of the doors, before I go down the stairs and find Deanna, all alone, whisking a bowl of yellow fluff like she’s determined to beat the contents into submission instead of stiff peaks.

“I shudder to think of the offense that bowl committed.”

Deanna squeaks and then freezes, eyes gone wide. “Oh! Hello. You weren’t supposed to see this.”

“Wasn’t I?” I creep closer and lean over the bowl. “What is it?”

“Apricot frosting.” She smiles, but it looks too much like an apology.

“Why wasn’t I supposed to see it?”

Her eyes go wide again, as if she’s already said too much. “Because I haven’t perfected it yet.”

“Okay. I’ll pretend I didn’t see it.” I cover my eyes and hold still as she scoops up the bowl and hurries away.

When I peek again, she’s gone and I’m alone in the kitchen. It’s a lovely space. Stone walls, high windows, thick beams across the ceiling.

There’s more headroom than I expected. Herbs dry between them and on the far side of the space, above a stove with bubbling pots.

Hefting a basket full of potatoes, Murdoch shoves her way out of a cellar and shakes out her wings. The harpy looks at me with a smile that opens her beak and a little sound escapes her. “What are you doing down here at this hour?”

“Looking for sustenance.”

She chuckles and the wheezing sound makes me smile as she hefts the potatoes onto the workbench.

“Of course you are, dear. Those two boys would run you ragged.” She goes to an oven on the other side of the table and pulls the door open, filling the room with the heavenly aroma of fresh baked bread.

She bustles away, not turning back to me as she asks, “How is your shop faring?”

“Most people need their potions. There’s never a dull day.”

“When Blicks told me what you do, I knew you’d be a good one.” She snatches a knife from the block. “Potion makers are always trustworthy people... or they don’t stay in a town for long.”

“I certainly could tell a lot of secrets.”

“I bet you could.” She turns back to me with a plate with toast and ham and eggs and a little pot of jam. “But I also know you won’t.”

“Not the ones I’m meant to keep.”

Deanna comes back with a whisk still covered in the pale yellow frosting and I cover my eyes again. “I don’t see anything.”

“You’re fine.” But Deanna still hides the whisk in the sink.

“How are you liking Petalfall?” I ask before I take a bite.

“I like it better than where we were before.” Deanna says a moment before Murdoch hushes her.

“Where we were before was perfectly fine.”

The look Deanna gives me makes me think Murdoch is lying, but I’m not going to pry.

Murdoch doesn’t make me. “All of us prefer the forest to the city.”

“I don’t blame you.” I break the yolk over my bread and watch the yellow goo slide across it. “I have only visited the city a handful of times and I don’t have any plans to go back.”

“Your younger sister wants to visit.”

I look up at Deanna, a little surprised and not, all at the same time.

Mina is happy to make friends with anyone she meets. I don’t think she’s snuck into the house, but if Deanna was out in the village, I can easily imagine Mina pouncing on her.

“She was too young to remember, but she has been to the city before.” I say as Murdoch sets another plate in front of Deanna and then a third between us and brings her own breakfast over too. I ignore the way her plate wriggles. “My father loved the city and I understand why, but Petalfall has always been home and I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”

“We completely understand why.” Murdoch says and then glances at the doorway. “Someone overslept again.”

Yenna comes in rubbing her eyes with one hand and buttoning the last button on her dress with the other.

“Good morning,” She says, sleepily as she sits between me and Deanna.

This is the first time I’ve seen them so close together and... “Are you sisters?”

Deanna’s teacup hovers in front of her lips and then she smiles, turning to Yenna. “I told you.”

“I still don’t think we look that much alike!” Yenna grabs an orange from the bowl in the middle of the table and starts to peel it. “But no. We are cousins. And she’s younger.”

“By less than a half-century!” they settle in to bicker at each other and I have to press my lips to keep from laughing.

They remind me too much of Carlotta and Eryn.

Murdoch and I share a glance as we finish our food.

“And what have you been doing all night to make you this tired?” I ask, teasing.

Yenna blushes her cheeks turning a literal blood orange. “It was my night off... I found some entertainment.”

I don’t ask her anymore questions. I certainly don’t want her to feel like she owes me any details.

We finish off the tea pot while Murdoch and Yenna tell me about the manor garden, with Deanna interrupting when she has something to share as well.

“I’d take you out to show you, but in your bare feet... I expect one or both of them would send me back to Moia’s home.”

“Nonsense. My mother wouldn’t take you back.” Penny comes down the stairs behind me, kissing the top of my head before he says, “I am kidding. We would never break apart the family.”

Murdoch rolls her eyes, but she gets up and slaps Penny’s hand before he can grab one of the pots and Deanna hurries to shutter the windows. A moment later, Viggo lifts me up, taking my seat and holding me in his lap. “She hates when he comes down and starts poking at things.”

“I don’t think she hates it.” I watch her pretend to scold him as he asks a dozen questions, only half of them serious.

“You should let them show you the garden sometime soon.” His hand smooths down my leg. “But, Murdoch’s right, not when you’re barefoot.”

“I didn’t want to wake you.”

“I know.” He rests his chin on my shoulder. “Do you need to leave soon?”

“In a little bit, but not too soon.” I watch the others bustle about and realize just how quiet and empty my mother’s home has been since my father died.

There are so many things we lost when he left us…

Perhaps I should go back to the city... even if it would only be to remember him through it.